State law would force secondhand shops to photograph...

Assembly Digest

March 24, 2000|By FROM STAFF REPORTS

State law would force secondhand shops to photograph clients

The Senate approved a bill yesterday that would require pawnshops and other secondhand retailers in Baltimore City and Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties to take digital photographs of customers and the items they sell to the stores.

Merchants would have to submit the photographs to local police. The bill, which now goes to the House of Delegates, is designed to crack down on stolen items being sold through the shops.

Air polluters would face penalties of up to $10,000 a day under a bill approved by the Senate this week.

The Maryland Department of the Environment had sought a tenfold increase in its $2,500 maximum daily penalty for air-quality violations, but the Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee scaled back the agency's request.

The Senate voted 34-13 Wednesday to approve the amended bill. The measure now goes to the House.

Senate committee suggests insuring children earlier

Thousands of children of working families would be eligible for state-funded health insurance this year under legislation approved by a Senate committee this week.

The Finance Committee decided that the expansion of the children's health program should take effect this year rather than in July 2001, as Gov. Parris N. Glendening had proposed. But the committee also amended the bill to allow fewer families to enroll.

About 9,500 children would be insured this year. The governor's proposal would cover about twice that number beginning in 2001.